NASA

NASA’s Swift, Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory have teamed up to study one of the most puzzling cosmic blasts yet observed. More than a week later, high-energy radiation continues to brighten and fade from its location. Astronomers say they have never seen anything this bright, long-lasting and variable before.

Images from Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical (white, purple) and X-ray telescopes (yellow and red) were combined in this view of GRB 110328A.

Currently, astronomers believe a star wandered too close to its own galaxies central black hole which created the unusual blast. Gas is continuing to stream toward the hole. The black hole might have formed an outflowing jet along its rotational axis. When the jet is pointed towards us you can see the X-rays and gamma rays. Research is still ongoing.

Swift’s Burst Alert Telescope discovered the source coming from Draco when it erupted on March 28th. Astronomers were informed worldwide.

An image taken by Hubble on April 4th finds the source of the explosion in the center of a galaxy that is 3.8 billion light years away.

April 4 by the Hubble Space Telescope

That same day, astronomers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to make a four-hour-long exposure of the puzzling source.

Chandra X-ray Observatory April 4

Most galaxies, including our own, contain central black holes with millions of times the sun’s mass; those in the largest galaxies can be a thousand times larger. The disrupted star probably succumbed to a black hole less massive than the Milky Way‘s, which has a mass four million times that of our sun.

Astronomers plan additional Hubble observations to see if the galaxy’s core changes brightness.

We hear it all the time, and have heard it since Malthus: That overpopulation is the primary cause of the world’s environmental ills. It makes sense in simple logical terms: The more people there are consuming natural resources, the greater a threat humanity poses to exhausting them. Hard to argue with that. But the issue is of course more complex — and there’s an interesting back-and-forth over at Grist on the subject to prove it. One writer argues that fears of a rapidly expanding population are overblown — constituting a “green myth”, even — and that those fears should be redirected towards consumerism. Is that right?

On November 17 at 12pm ET, join host former Vice President Al Gore, inventor Dean Kamen, astronaut Sally Ride and young people from around the world for an interactive discussion exploring youth attitudes toward math and science education.

In order to participate, bookmark the above link and return on November 17th at 12 PM ET. You can sign in using a Vokle, Facebook, or Twitter account. You can submit questions and chat with other viewers.

There are so many countries that are ahead of us in math, science, technology, and engineering. The U.S. is ranked 35th in Math and 29th in Science.

80% of all jobs created in the future will require math and science. Here is a link to a video with children from other countries vs. children from the U.S. talking about what they do in school or during their day!!

1. Why is it that other countries celebrate math and science while we often portray them as uncool?

2. Do you think math and science skills are important to your child’s future? Would your child agree?

3. How can we change attitudes about science and math so that kids today are inspired to take on these subjects?

From the CAMM website- ABOUT CAMM

“To better understand how attitudes and beliefs among young Americans contribute to our poor rankings, we traveled to three countries that rank significantly higher in math and science literacy – Finland, China and Australia – and interviewed young people, parents and teachers about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and related issues. We compared what we heard from these nations to responses from interviews conducted here in the U.S.”

Here is what they heard:

Youth from outside the U.S. take it as a given that if they want to be successful in life, they have to do well in math and science. We did not hear this from the U.S kids.

Youth from outside the U.S. are more aware that they will compete in a global marketplace and not just against kids in their own country

Outside the U.S., there is much less of a social stigma attached to being smart and doing well in school. In fact, the smart kids are considered cool.